I decided to do some testing, since I have Dolby Access and DTS:X for Windows Sonics on my system. DTS:X is doing some room simulation, so you get that flattening affect from the room reverb, but it's not as bad as say Waves NX. You have 2 settings, Balanced and Spacious. I find the cues are more telling with balanced. While I liked Spacious since is lessens the flattening affect, the spatial cues aren't as strong and noticeable. There also was some notable boosting of the lower registers, and level enhancement for closer sounds. (When my sorc in SWTOR is casting Force spells, they got louder than usual)
With Dolby Atmos for Headphones, they don't do the room sim, or they don't apply the Reverb heavily, so things sound more like they do normally. Here you have a bunch of presets, and option to make your own profile. There are 2 settings: Surround Virtualizer and Volume Leveler. The former controls HRTF, the latter plays with dynamics of closer and further away sounds. Now SWTOR already does distance to a degree, so the Leveler only enhanced it, and too much for my tastes. Luckily, you can disable this in a Custom Profile. You also have access to a 10-band EQ for each profile.
When I disable Windows Sonics, I get the HRTF Support from Asus' Sonic Studio III. The effect there is not as strong, but very clear, with minimal audio distortion for the spatial acoustics. I understand that their HRTF library is from the people who do their own spatializer, whose name escapes me atm. Tho I did not care for their stand alone product.
Which did I prefer? For gaming, I preferred the Dolby Atmos implementation, mainly due to the greater level of control you have, and less room reverb sim. Of note, DTS does not have a HRTF profile for the DT-1990.
Tho I can see how some may prefer the DTS:X since the spatial cues are more apparent and can be easier to note. Not an issue with DT-1990 grade of detail and imaging.
Of note, it's nice to see that SWTOR is Windows Sonics aware and compatible.
